More Details on GT Sport’s Livery Editor, Photo Scapes, & Customization Options

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Easily one of the most surprising features unveiled for GT Sport last month, a livery editor has finally arrived in the franchise. As a highly-requested feature, players were eager to dive into the editor at the Copper Box, but found everything bar the basic top menu locked out for public use. While we got a quick peak at the feature in action in the latest trailer, it raised as many questions as it answered. When asked about the level of control players will have in the livery editor, Kazunori Yamauchi had this to say:

“There will be two steps in that, where the first step is really a system by which you can take stickers from a sticker library, and project them onto the cars, and then the next step beyond that is being able to design those stickers yourself. So it’ll consist of those two separate tools.”

Depending on what tools are available for players to create these custom stickers, the livery editor could prove to be a huge boon to designers, as well as those that run dedicated racing leagues. The trailer showcased the recreation of an Audi R8 already present in the game, with elements of its design able to be selected individually and modified. This suggests that players can tailor an existing car to their own preferences – different number plate, different drivers listed – while still keeping an established overall design.

The livery editor certainly looks like it will cover almost all aspects of the car too – not just the bodywork, but wheels and windshield banners – if this menu screen is any indication:

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Our man Jordan noticed that helmets and race suits featured prominently in menus of GT Sport, both of which saw growth during the PS3 era. When asked, Yamauchi confirmed that those too will be customizable, though didn’t expand on how deep that aspect of personalization will go.

Livery designing can become a game within itself. Titles like Need For Speed and Forza have fostered communities around the creative talents, in some cases tying designs to the in-game economy, providing players with an additional credit stream. We’re anxious to find out how Polyphony have tied this feature to the more social aspects of the game.

Who knows, we might be able to recreate some of these old Gran Turismo designs

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Finally, Kazunori also had some information on the Photomode aspect of GT Sport. The good news is that the traditional on-track Photomode (Race Photo Mode) will return, as expected. The bad news relates to the new Scapes feature. With over 1000 locations apparently set for inclusion, there were bound to be limitations, and our active Photomode community voiced concerns over limited camera movement. “The camera itself, you can pan or tilt,” Kazunori said, “but you can’t really move the camera.” Unfortunate, but expected given the massive number of locations on offer.

That concludes all of the coverage relating to our London Q&A session with Kazunori. If you missed anything, here’s the full run-down:

We’ll be keeping an eye out for any new information that comes out of Japan this weekend at the dedicated GT Sport event in Tokyo.

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Comments (51)

  1. Jeanr

    I really hope that stickers can be fused into one layer, like a psd file, instead Forza’s multiple layers feature! That way the sky is the limit!

  2. BrunetPaquet

    Imagine the liveries I’ll able to create based on characters from my RPG Project…

    That’s gonna be awesome!

  3. Normalaatsra

    At least Scapes redeems itself with tons of locations, indeed there will be hardly enough area to move around.

  4. infamousphil

    And the photoscapes. Thousands? With as many cars in the shot as you can fit into the view finder? Fantastic! Hope they do this right. Also, since l don’t do abbreviated GT, here’s to hoping liveries and scapes are included and possibly improved in GT VII. I can wait… no problem

  5. infamousphil

    Sharing is an important part of any online experience. I really enjoyed FM’s storefront concept. So much so that hours of potential drive time was spent in the design room.

    1. Tenacious D

      I’m wondering if GT Sport can be expanded after launch, especially if Kaz decides to go all out on GT7 causing delays. One of the GT games had a big expansion of the online system (GT5?). Prologue had a lot of cars added for free, doubling the car list, and High Speed Ring with events. Let’s hope that Sport can have features added like an Event Maker, Course Maker 2.5, club and league builder tools… this is one time I hope feature creep occurs.

    2. Tenacious D

      Gah, forgot the Auction House and Storefront. I’d love to see some more Forza features like those.

    3. Johnnypenso

      It can be expanded obviously but Kaz has not given a definitive answer on whether there would be DLC at all. An odd response in this day and age.

    4. Tenacious D

      This is why we must beseech his majesty. Extra goodies will never be frowned on, except at release if we have to pay for them, and they will give Sport extra life while we wait for GT7. Prologue came out two years and several months before GT5, so something similar may be in store for GT7, depending on how well the team can model or remodel content for the new engine and system. Still six months per car and up to two years per track? I guess as with all things GT, we’ll see.

  6. infamousphil

    The long overdue livery editor is a great addition to GT. I just hope we won’t be able to manipulate these shapes into hateful messeges like what l witnessed in earlier FM times. That was a damn shame

    1. Tenacious D

      I rarely saw anything, except on occasion in the Auction House. On track, never. Besides, naughty people will get reported, dealt with, everyone’s eyeballs and little beaty hearts will be saved. ;D

  7. SimTourist

    It’s amazing how you guys managed to stretch out one interview into a million articles on the main page. Stunning.

  8. RodolphoPNeto

    Wow, they sure put a lot of effort into making your car look pretty so you can take some nice pictures. Great. Fantastic. There wont be enough to supply the demand!

    1. MeanElf

      Curiously enough, a lot of people have complained about PS2 era assets (like they know what they are talking about) and minimal graphical improvements since GT5 – and you feel that they have gone too far…I suggest that you wait to see what else the game will offer before offering a definitive criticism.

    2. RodolphoPNeto

      MeanElf, that’s a good point. Thing is, i feel like they showcased these features in a way that makes them the core of the game. Maybe it’s me, but GT6 had it all, despite the problems, and that was enough for me to still love it. Not this thing though… it has almost nothing that interests me (so far). It’s been said hundreds of times, but i’m certain that GTS is something they’ve put together to sell for a year until whatever they plan to do for the next GT.

  9. thegt500

    I hope the game has actual driving involved (you know, it’s kinda important in a racing SIM) and it’s not padded out with frivolous trinkets !
    I’d much rather have as realistic physics, sounds and graphics as possible rather than the ability to make my car pretty. I’d be happy just to paint my car a colour, pick a racing number and choose from a selection of pre set liveries as long as the racing experience was good.
    As for photo mode, I never used it in any of the previous GT’s so don’t think I’ll change my mind just because there are 1000+ locations to choose from !

    1. Tenacious D

      Yes, all that stuff you mention is important. As of then, the game was still about six months from release, with possibly as much as four months more work on it. Kas had mentioned that the PS4 architecture was such a dream to work with, so they were accomplishing little surprises and improvements just about every day. Even now, some from GT Planet like Scaff are impressed with it, and not only is he something of a sim aficionado, but someone from the automotive training sector, so that bodes well.

      Gameplay, we’ll have to see. But from early reports, gameplay is pretty okay too. What I’m hoping to learn about is any sort of community features in regard to club and league building. For that to work out well, I’d assume this involves an Event Maker, which can be used to make single events, championships, racing series, all the way to some sort of racing season with championships. If we don’t get one at launch, I’m hoping we can lobby to have one patched in.

      Another little tidbit I’d like to see is what sort of DLC we can look forward to, cars, tracks as well as features. Some of the members would like to see more real race cars, or at least race cars based on real world cars. Me too. I’d also like to see a Course Maker 2.5 make an appearance at some point. Maybe even Race Mod for the street cars.

      As for the rest of it, you can’t have missed how long and hard some of us have lobbied for more Photo Mode goodies, as well as that Livery Editor. And if you want to have a good foundation for user clubs and leagues, a Livery Editor is almost indispensable. Plus as Kyle points out, those other games have enthusiastic gamer involvement long after a game’s release thanks to elements like that Livery Editor, Forza in particular. We’ll have to see what E3 brings in regard to more news of how the overall package works, and a few more events leading into fall.

    1. Johnnypenso

      Pretty sure the interview is over already and took place in London. The results are just trickling out a bit over the following days/weeks.

  10. JakeMR2

    As long as the livery editor is easy and simple to use, I can finally do some TXR stuff and make 1st Kingdom and Thirteen Devils stickers.

  11. SolidSnake7735

    YES!!!! Now I’ll be able to fulfill all my Initial D fantasies of taking a defeated opponent team’ sticker, cutting it in half diagonally and placing it upside-down on my car’s spoiler, a la Team Emperor.
    :drool:

  12. Sasek

    I hope that there will be some livery sharing or livery base when we can upload and download liveries.

  13. MrWaflz55

    There wasn’t much meat in this article, I was hoping to hear something about livery sharing over PSN.

    1. Traviizter

      This was already previewed, briefly. Kaz said something in his presentation about an “Open Gallery” where you can post up your liveries and share them with friends.

    2. Tenacious D

      From the official Gran Turismo dot com website:

      “The created design can be shared between players. Surprise your friends with your originality and level of artistry.”

      I’m counting on those stickers/decals/etc being shareable too. For user racing leagues – hoping we can create those – making our own league number plaques will be fairly significant. And coming up with team sponsors will require sharing decals. Here’s hoping for something as deep and useful as what is offered in NFS and Forza.

    3. King Something

      Any guesses on how many seconds will pass between the start of online livery sharing and the first “anatomically correct” livery being shared? My money’s on 42.

  14. oli440

    I think it was obvious from the start that there would be limitations with the ‘Scapes’ feature. There’s no way that they would be able to render full 3D environments to that level of photo realism.

    All the same, I am still hyped for the ‘Scapes’ feature. Being able to travel the globe and photograph cars with custom liveries will certainly be one of the defining features of GT Sport.

  15. Widabuddy

    I’ll probably end up spending more time designing liveries than driving. I’m so excited :D

    1. Jeanr

      Me too! After checking Forza 4 stats I have find out I’ve spend 10 times more time in Livery Editor than actually racing!

  16. Szuper

    What.. You can use photoshop or google if you need car photos! Come on.. Racing game…
    You own build/placed stickers is race, very race!

    1. ImaRobot

      Photomode has been as much as a staple feature in GT than most anything else, and it is the most accurate in the business. Its a big part of the community, and welcome feature.

  17. celtiscorpion73

    So far, this is the only thing that I’ve really been interested in for the game.
    As for the photo mode, why would you restrict the elements of the game so people could take pictures? That, added with a “spectator” function and it seems like this game is going to be geared more towards aesthetics versus actual driving.
    This is a definite pass for me, but we’ll see what happens with GT7.

    1. SavageEvil

      What’s wrong with photo mode, it’s been in every GT game since GT3 and there is a huge community behind it. Are you one of those who complain about things you aren’t interested in so it should be cut for your sake?

    2. celtiscorpion73

      Photo mode is one thing, but taking up a huge part of a racing game for pictures seems to be overkill. Of course, you seem to be intent on arguing your point because only your opinion matters, right?

    3. Tenacious D

      Well look, only yours matters to you too, celt. The thing is, Sport can be all the above for everyone. We don’t know what exactly the gameplay is going to entail. Maybe single player racing will be entirely in Arcade Mode, and whatever we have as far as user clubs and leagues. For me, if we have some sort of Event Maker, that would be enough. Then we’d have complete freedom to race offline, race online, livery up cars, take photos… that should make everyone happy. We should know more at E3 in a couple of weeks.

    4. Johnnypenso

      “Then we’d have complete freedom to race offline, race online, livery up cars, take photos… that should make everyone happy.”. The thing that made 50 million people happy before GT5 was the offline career, something that is missing from this game so far. Regardless of what else is in there, the lack of an offline career is going to ensure that many, many people are not happy.

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